It’s early days for social analytics, but ever since the term “viral” was coined, there have been many attempts to determine how and why content gets rapidly disseminated across the social sphere. While there probably isn’t a single formula that works for all, understanding social amplification is a bit of art and science. The NY Times’ R&D group has taken an analytical approach through Project Cascade, a beautiful visualization of how some of their content spreads over time, seeking patterns and trends. Breaking down large sets of data into multiple graphical views that change over time often beats trying to make sense of often multiple spreadsheets of data. While Project Cascade has been deemed an R&D effort, I see promise in other contexts.

I was recently interviewed by the New York Times about “smartphone etiquette” in this day and age. The main question was whether or not I thought it was acceptable to type away in meetings. As you might imagine, I had an opinion on this and one of my observations made the cut in the published article. Check me out here: Mind Your BlackBerry or Mind Your Manners.

Update: The Wall Street Journal picks up on the etiquette theme and takes it one step further in “Your Blackberry or Your Wife.” Good read.